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Player characters level up or bad-ass beginner? Angela Murray inspired us to discuss the topic. Do you start out a wimp where your wizard has 1d4+Con Mod hit points to only die from a pin prick or do you have max hit points and want to be an effective bad ass at first level? There is something to both sides. The former may build character, we’re not talking rpg character but personal character within the player character part of a roleplaying game. However, being a hero means you are somewhat formidable. We talk about it!

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We field emails from Jason Raether and Mike Walsh. Thanks for writing in guys!

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One reason I like to avoid dirt sucker to hero games is that they are dull boring. They were great when I was a teenager, but I have told that story 20 or 30 times in the last 3 decades of role playing.
Progression and growth are great, but I don’t want to be a hapless teenager most of the time. I’ve spend 20 years becoming a competent adult, and it is much more fun playing other people who have spent time becoming competent adults (albeit in different focuses than I have…) because they are more relatable. That said, I do want progression, much like I am not, today,done growing and learning just because I have grown and learned in the past.
This applies to fantasy heroic action, but it also applies to other non-action games. If I’m a con man and not playing fiasco, the cool stuff is pulling off a slick con, not flying around and doing kung fu.

Another reason to start with established characters is that the stakes can be bigger and more meaningful. Nate Ford, 10 years earlier chased crooks for a paycheck. It was a day job and yawn. Nate Ford today is ruining crooks lives because he has 10 years of experience that has shaped his life and pushed him from investigator to vigilante. Playing the ten years of “losing his son to cancer and becoming a washed out drunk? Boring, even though it is important to how he is a badass today. (And 5 years of being an active badass vigilante gave him a level climb where he got to be much better at cons and way creepier.)

The other thing to do is something like Spirit of the Century’s character creation where part of creating your badass character is doing brief vignettes showing how you got there in the first session.

Sean

Hey Michael, totally agree. The pin cushion start can get old. I have to admit that for sure, but progression is needed. It’s always nice to add a little something to the character because of a progression mechanic.